We present the list of Asian films that will be screened at the Locarno Film Festival which will take place from August 2 – 12, 2023 in Locarno, Switzerland.

Concorso Internazionale

When asked what drives a man to search for the truth, Lieutenant Papauran says dejectedly that maybe he just wants to keep inflicting pain on himself. Faced with President Duterte’s bloody murders and brazen lies, he continues his struggle to solve a fifteen-year-old case around an ash-laden landscape and an impenetrable lake. It has become a cross he can barely carry but keeps dragging it anyway. (Locarno 2023)

Concorso Cineasti del Presente

Three middle-aged friends reunite for the first time in years. Each of them sets out to confess unexpressed feelings, but their vacation takes a surprising turn when the undercurrent of their past lives threatens to resurface. (Locarno 2023)

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Every night, a village is gripped by the fear of child-kidnappers, ever since the church prophesized that an apocalyptic darkness would come, lasting 80 days. For a ten-year-old boy who suffers from night blindness, the village has never been more terrifying. (Locarno 2023)

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Shiva, an audio installation artist visits the largest coal mines of Eastern India – plagued by depleting natural resources and a burning fire in its belly. However, he succumbs to the highly complex socio-political system and moves to a tribal village in the forest. There, he questions his urban view and fundamental notion of self. Water, as an element, forms the labyrinth of his quest for truth. (Locarno 2023)

Pardi di domani: Concorso Internazionale

A factory worker longing for hope in his impoverished life and trying to liberate himself from his unpromising future. A melancholic tale of modernity and the decay of liberty. (Locarno 2023)

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With her family on the cusp of change and separation, a filmmaker questions the meaning of her given name, her place among her four sisters, and their stories. (Locarno 2023)

Waves coming and going on an empty beach. Various people, from children to the elderly, appear one by one on the beach. And, within the rhythm of the waves, each repeats their own actions. (Locarno 2023)

Piazza Grande

In 1970s Kunchon, two best friends, Choon-ja and Jin-sook, are skilled women divers who collected seafood for a living. However, the construction of factories near the beach disruptes their livelihood. Desperate for income, they join a smuggling business by sea. As the smuggling operation grows, Jin-sook’s family struggles to handle it, and the once peaceful village begins to crumble. (Locarno 2023)

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Fuori Concorso

Discharged from the army due to post-traumatic stress disorder, Miguel gets embroiled in a different kind of war when a drug peddler seeks his protection against a vigilante death squad. All the while he must confront his own demons in order to earn his redemption. (Locarno 2023)

During the 1990s, at a Scandinavian psychiatric hospital, a man known as Mads Lake confessed to multiple murders and was convicted. However, the uneasy triumvirate of Mads, therapist Anna Rudebeck and policeman Soren Rank all have a vested interest in unearthing the truth, while a deepening co-dependency threatens to consume them all. (Locarno 2023)

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Historie(s) du cinema

Zed, a British-Pakistani rapper, is forced by illness to halt his soaring career and confront his family identity, and rediscover his path in life. Awarded at the Berlinale, Bassam Tariq’s film leverages the exceptional versatility of Riz Ahmed, who is also producer and screenwriter, in one of the most intense performances of his career. (Locarno 2023)

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In a large house surrounded by nature, Kang struggles with the pain that racks his body. Non, a young massage therapist, lives in a small apartment in the city. When the two meet in a hotel room, they find solace in each other before returning to their everyday lives. Tsai Ming-liang delivers a vibrant new chapter in his meditation on time, loneliness, and love. (Locarno 2023)

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For more information, please visit: https://www.locarnofestival.ch/home.html